The Quietus Murderer
by Mandarin Fiend
Summary: Squall and Rinoa are partnered for a school project, topic: the murder of Cid Krammer. They unknowingly stumble into the murderers trail, and become his next targets. It was only supposed to be a school project ...
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** **I don't own final fantasy 8**

**I revised it.**

10 years previous

_"What the hell is going on here?!" _

He_ looked around, his features strangely calm, even though _he'd_ been caught in the act._

_"Cid, Cid, Cid. I wouldn't expect you to understand." _he_ replied, shaking _his_ head sadly._

_"This is the end. I'm calling the cops." said Cid, reaching for the phone on the wall. He'd hardly started dialling, when something cold was put against his neck. _

_"Put the phone down."_ he _said calmly. Reluctantly, Cid complied._

_"Put up your arms, and turn around." again, Cid did as he was told, glaring hatefully at the person across the room._

_"Such a shame it has to end like this. I was always quite fond you." _he _said remorsefully, pacing closer to Cid, until they were nearly touching._

_"The dead can't speak, and can't return. I'm sorry Cid, but you won't be returning" _he_ whispered, then _he_ thrust the cold metal into Cid's chest. Eyes widened in shock, Cid watched his own blood stain his white coat, crimson blooming like a grotesque flower. He fell to his knees. The metal was pulled out and plunged in, again and again, until the coat was no longer white at all._

_Crimson stained _his_ hands, and made a puddle on the ground. The only sound in the room was the steady tone of a monitor, hooked up to a person whose heart was no longer beating, and more crimson dripping off the sharp blade into the linoleum. _He _sighed._

_"Oh dear. Look at the mess I've made ..." _he_ said, smiling faintly._

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Rinoa sat at her desk, twirling her pen, and resting her head lazily against her elbow. The summer heat was stifling, casting students and teachers alike into a stupefied haze.

Miss Trepe gave up trying to force her students to learn after the first five minutes. It was obvious that they weren't going to concentrate last period on a Friday, so she (wisely) gave up, and changed tactic.

"I'm handing out your term assessments now. You're all randomly paired up, with different focus topics. For the rest of the lesson you can locate your partner, the person who has the same topic as you, and then start planning your approach." Miss Trepe paused, placing a sheet on Rinoa's desk, then like a dam breaking, chatter broke out, as the students realised they'd been given freedom.

Rinoa's eyes skimmed over her sheet: "_'The unsolved murder of Cid Krammer.' Hmm ... sounds interesting enough ..." _she thought.

"And please, try to keep your voices down. I expect civil behaviour from senior students." yelled Miss Trepe over the din that had been getting steadily louder as she passed out the last of the sheets.

"If anyone has any questions I'll be in the resource room ..." said Miss Trepe, closing the door behind her, though her students were no longer listening.

The room was filled with groans and excited squeals as the students found out their topics, or partner.

"Hey Rinoa what's your topic? I got_ 'The timber constitutional land reformation .' _I'm fully gonna fail. I have no clue what that even is." said a boy sitting on Rinoa's right. He stared down at his sheet with a bewildered look on his face, scrunching up the elaborate curved tattoo on the side of his face.

"You always say that Zell. Then you pass." replied Rinoa smiling.

"Yeah I spose ... but always only just! Aw man, are you not my partner?" said Zell grimly, running a hand through his cropped blonde hair.

"No Zell."

"This sucks. I was hoping I'd get a really smart one. Might have a chance that way. What did you get Rinoa?"

"Nothing as interesting as the reformation of land in timber. I got _'The unsolved murder of Cid Krammer._'" said Rinoa grinning.

"Tch. This isn't fair." said Zell glumly, "I've actually heard of that."

"Yo chicken wuss! What's your topic?" yelled someone from the other side of the room.

"Shut up Seifer!" yelled Zell angrily, springing out of his chair. Seifer chuckled.

"Just making sure you ain't my partner Dinch, cause I don't wanna be partnered with a dumb ass."

"Screw you Almasy." said Zell, flashing him a certain finger.

"Heh, just do me one favour Dinch. Please tell me you aren't doing _'land reformations in timber'"_

Rinoa laughed outright, while Zell stared at Seifer in shock, disbelief written all over his face. Seifer was no longer smirking.

"No way!" they yelled at the same time, both clearly horrified.

The rest of the class went quiet, staring at Seifer and Zell.

"Hahaha. You two are so screwed! You're both idiots, and you're both lazy. Just give up now, if you try to do anything together you'll kill each other." said a small brunette sitting at the front. She was nearly falling off her chair laughing.

"Shut up Selphie!" yelled Zell and Seifer.

"All right, I say we make me the leader." declared Seifer.

"What?! This is a partnered project! There isn't supposed to be a leader!" replied Zell indignantly. Seifer carried on as if he hadn't heard,

"How about you collect and process information, and I'll oversee."

"What!? That's ridiculous! That's all the work!"

"Ooh ridiculous eh? Been reading the dictionary have we Dinch? Increasing your vocabulary?"

"Why you ..."

Rinoa tuned out the rest of their yelling, and looked around the room. Most people had found their partners, and were sitting together discussing quietly, or watching Seifer and Zell's spectacle.

All except for a one person. There was a boy sitting in a corner at the back of the room, reading his sheet. Rinoa recognised him as the new boy that had joined their class a couple weeks previous.

He was always silent, unless spoken to directly, and even then you only got one word answers. Rinoa would have hardly noticed him, were it not for the rumours that preceded him.

Something about him getting into a fight with another student at his previous school and seriously injuring them. She'd heard several variations of the same story, one girl swore he'd had a machete, while another said he didn't beat up one guy, but five Asians in a science room.

It didn't help his image that he seemed to be missing from school a lot of the time, 'Probably drug dealing.' everyone concluded, and he never got punished for it. If the teachers were too scared to punish him, then something was definitely up.

Rinoa was highly sceptical abut these so called rumours. She couldn't quite imagine the boy getting angry, and wielding a machete.

Everyone tended to avoid him because of this hearsay, too scared in case they were to be his next 'victim'. This seemed to be fine with the boy, he never made an effort to bridge the gap, or to rectify the rumours.

Rinoa smiled. Something about him sparked interest in her. While everyone else had written him off as 'the psychotic druggie that got kicked out if his other school for beating the crap out of another student,' she'd been watching him closely, concluding to herself that he looked decent enough.

He yawned, and flicked his head to the side to rid his vision of brown hair. It was very easy to picture him stalking prey, lithe as a feline, treading carefully, closer and closer, every movement executed deliberately with pin point accuracy, always with the same calm face.

Never betraying a hint of what he was thinking. He didn't seem like the type to rush into anything blindly, but then again no one knew what type he actually was.

He was an enigma to all.

And now Rinoa was going to make it her business to find out about him. She rose out of her seat to introduce herself.

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Squall looked down at his sheet and frowned. "_'The murder of Cid Krammer.' ...I've heard of that ..." _he thought, unsuccessfully stifling a yawn.

He'd had basically no sleep in the past two days, and although his mother said he could have the day off if he wanted, he'd refused. He needed to get out of the house, and he hated hospitals.

The hair prickled on the back of Squall's neck. Someone was watching him. He turned his head, and saw a girl staring at him. She smiled broadly, and walked over to him.

"Hi, you're Squall right?" she asked. He nodded.

"I'm Rinoa, and I think we're partners for this. Do you have the murder of Cid Krammer?" again, he nodded. There was silence between them for a moment.

"Do you want to meet up sometime in the weekend to plan this? There's only about five minutes left now in class, and I want to get a good mark." said Rinoa earnestly. Squall frowned.

_'God. I don't want to meet up with anyone ... can't I do this assignment by myself?' _he thought. He looked down at his sheet, and as if in answer to his question, he read a portion of the marking criteria -

_'Students will be marked based on their ability to work well with others ... Great. When am I going to be able to do this?' _thought Squall. He needed to pass this subject, he needed to work, and he had his mother to attend to, when all he wanted to do was sleep. He sighed, and looked up at the girl. She seemed nice enough. _'Exactly why I should avoid her.' _he thought.

"Whatever." he mumbled. Rinoa chuckled at his response.

"Write down your phone number here, I'll give you a call sometime to arrange it." Squall nodded, and accepted her pen, writing it down where she pointed. He decided not to mention that their phone wasn't connected yet. The bell rang, setting off a chain reaction of scraping chairs, and opening doors.

Rinoa winked.

"See you later Squall." she said, then she was gone.

Squall packed up his things, and walked out of the school slowly, not really in any hurry to get to work. Whispers and glances followed him down the corridors, and no one met his eye. He knew what rumours were going around about him, and quite frankly, he didn't care.

There were much more important things for him to worry about, and as far as he was concerned, people could believe what they wanted. They were really making his life easier by not talking to him, but he had a funny feeling Rinoa was different, her smile had been really sincere. Reminding him of someone. Squall shook himself slightly, casting the thoughts out of his mind.

_'The dead can't return ...'_

**Tell me what you think. If people like it/ are interested, I'll continue ...**


	2. Chapter 2

_The reserve was a peaceful place, a slice of forest outlining the edge of the town. A creek bubbled through it, parallel to the track that had been built in to serve people with a soft spot for nature._

_It was there that body had been found, approximately eight hours after the murder had taken place. _

_A morning jogger had been unfortunate to come across the deceased. _

_Cid Krammer was found half naked, face down, with the creek running over his back, the blood long drained from his wounds. The stab marks littered across his chest looked all the more gruesome without the cover of blood. The water had made Cid's skin look strangely flaccid and pale._

_The police were called in, along with the other town doctor._

_He checked for a pule half-heartedly, before zipping up the black body bag over Cid's frowning face, shaking his head sadly._

_"... Oh dear."_

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

It was a busy night at 'Ifrit's Tavern.' There was a never ending stream of customers, and the background buzz got progressively louder as the general crowd got drunker, making it hectic for the staff.

By 8 o'clock, 'Ifrit's' was nearly full. Friday normally brought many customers, but that particular Friday was simply ridiculous. A popular band dubbed 'The Kamikazes,' were entertaining that night, and many people had turned up just to see them perform.

Squall stood behind the bar, getting quite apprehensive. A couple of clearly drunk boys about his own age were the source of Squall's apprehension.

"Howdy ... hick ... my friend." said one boy, swaying dangerously.

"Do you know how drunk I am? Do YOU know how drunk I am!? Well you know what? ... I'm drunk ... ENOUGH. That's right. ENOUGH." said the boy, slapping the counter top with one hand. The effect was ruined when he tried to take a swig of beer, but missed his mouth.

"I'm telling you now-" -he squinted at Squall's name badge - "Square, this is lame-mo. Back in Galbadia the chicks are way hotter and way easier because ..." he stopped abruptly, seemingly having lost his train of thought. His friend sat giggling to himself.

"Get out of the way. Other people want to be served." stated Squall coldly.

"Sure thing man. You're a great guy. Isn't he a great guy?" said the boy to his mate,

"Sure, I'd tap that." he replied, still giggling. Squall rolled his eyes. He'd had enough.

"Next please." he said loudly over the two boys heads.

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Ifrit's had a pretty lax environment. They weren't hard on uniform, and only gave Squall a black shirt with 'Ifrit's' printed on the back plus a name badge to wear. They told him to use whatever pants he wanted, (as long as they covered his ass) so he wore a of faded black jeans, torn through the knees, although in the dimly lit, smoky bar, you could hardly tell.

Squall frowned after glancing at the clock for what had to be the hundredth time that night, only to see that a minute had passed since he last looked. He was jolted out of his calculations by his manager,

"Hey, Squall or Irvine! While there's a lull in the traffic can you go out back and get another keg of Regen? We've nearly run out." yelled the manager, Xu, rushing past, mop and bucket in hand. It seemed that someone else had also already drunk too much. Squall gave a nod,

"Only for you sweetheart." said Irvine with a wink,

"Irvine, shut the hell up. Both of you, hurry up!" she yelled wildly, before disappearing between tables into the dim murmuring crowd.

"You go," said Irvine, "I'll handle the next customers." he said with a lazy smirk,

"Good evening ladies-"

Squall let himself out of the bar, and was immediately surrounded by the sounds of happily drunk people. Glasses clinked, and there was an undertone of chatter, punctuated every now and then by laughter. Squall skirted around the throng, dodging tables and people.

He was very grateful for an excuse to escape the service counter, he hated dealing with customers. He let himself into the room at the back, and came across the two security guards, Bigs and Wedge.

"Sup young blood." said Wedge. He was a rather strange fellow, and seemed to have a story for every occasion. Squall avoided him.

Bigs was quieter, but popped up unexpectedly, as if trying to catch out anyone who might be doing anything incriminating. Neither were intimidating looking. Both stood at about Squall's chest height, and Wedge was bald, while Biggs was quite plump.

It was a joke amongst the staff that if someone were to try and rob the pub, Wedge would get out his tin whistle, (presumably what he would use if he ran out of things to say, it was always in his pocket sticking out) while Wedge would pop up after the attack, with his giant torch. (Literally, a giant torch. It looked like a baseball bat with a bowl attached to the end, and light randomly shining out.)

Squall inclined his head in their direction, then quickly walked past into the stock room. He savored the quiet as he hunted around for the alcohol needed. Biggs's voice floated in from next door,

"So they asked me to watch the car. I said anything could be done, for a price. The kids turned up half an hour later, just as I thought. The only problem was that the-"

Finding the right keg, Squall rushed past Biggs and Wedge, ("-window broke and we all had to gap it-") then plunged back into the loudness of the crowd. He had barely taken a few steps when he bumped into something that tried to skirt around him, knocking it to the ground with a loud "Ow!"

Squall looked down to see Rinoa, of all people. Their gazes met, both clearly surprised. Rinoa was the first to recover.

"Jeez Squall. It's not good to knock out your customers." she said, pushing herself up to standing.

"You ran in front of me ..." stated Squall.

"I was fishing for a 'sorry' Squall. I even would have settled for an 'Are you okay?' or a 'be more careful Rinoa.'"

Squall would have liked to shrug, but the keg was preventing him from doing so. He instead gave a noncommittal head jerk.

"So ... you work here huh?" said Rinoa. Squall nodded, then started to walk away.

"Hey, hey, hey. Squall, wait a moment." said Rinoa, catching his arm, "You aren't getting away from me that easily. Its a good thing I ran into you here. I tried calling you before, and all I got was a message saying that the phone number I dialed wasn't connected. I have a funny feeling that you _knew_ it wasn't connected, and you were trying to avoid me." said Rinoa with a slight edge to her voice.

"You're probably right." replied Squall. Rinoa's frown deepened.

"Listen here pal, I am not failing because my partner is a sulky immature little boy! We will do this properly, and you will just have to stand my presence until we finish this. Got that?"

"Are you finished?" said Squall. Rinoa clenched her fist.

"No I am not." she said hotly. "When are we doing this?" Squall sighed.

"I have to get back to work." he said, turning away and walking back to the bar. Rinoa groaned.

"You are impossible!" she said, tailing him to the bar. He dumped the crate on the bench, as Rinoa took a calming breath. She took something out of her hand bag, and stood still for a moment. Squall glanced at her, then started walking back.

He'd only gone a few steps when a small hand slipped into his, pulling him gently to a stop.

"Think about it." breathed Rinoa in his ear, then she was gone, leaving behind a faint trace of strawberries in the air. Squall stood still for a moment, then looked down.

He was holding a crumpled piece of paper. Smoothing out the creases, Squall looked down at it thoughtfully for a moment. His pocketed it frowning slightly, and nearly walked into a gob-smacked Irvine.

"What?" said Squall irritably. Irvine shook his head disappointedly.

"I can't believe you got that chicks number without even trying." Squall gave Irvine a look.

"Well, I'd tap that. She was good looking! You just don't appreciate women like I do." said Irvine. He sighed, "What a waste."

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Rinoa stormed back her table in a bad mood, and had plonked into her seat before realizing she had forgotten what she got up for.

"Uh, Rinoa? Where are the drinks?" asked Selphie.

"Huh? Oh sorry I forgot them." said Rinoa. There was silence for a few moments.

"Well ... aren't you going to go back over and get some!?" said Selphie.

"I'm not in the mood. You go get them." said Rinoa grumpily.

"Jeez Rinoa, you were perfectly happy before. Is it that tine of the month already?"

"Sorry Selphie, I just ran into my dear partner for that assignment." Rinoa made a face, "This is going to be painful. I thought people were exaggerating when they said what a grouch he was."

"That new kid? What's his name ... Sq-something. Is it Squinn?

"No, its Squall."

"Right. The good looking one that transferred here and beat up someone at his old school which is why he has to come to ours now?" said Selphie in one breath.

"... Say that again but slower. Try breathing."

"You've heard the rumors right? The Library girl told me that he chucked a chair at a teacher and threatened his Lit class with a machete. They had to shoot him with a tranquilizer to calm him down." Rinoa laughed.

"I reckon getting him un-calm in the first place would be more difficult than shooting him with a tranquilizer. He doesn't look easily riled up. Besides, how can you claim to know all that when you can't even remember his name?" Selphie ignored the last comment and continued.

"Apparently some kid said stuff about his mother and he went ballistic."

"'Apparently' being the operative word. It's only 'apparent,' not absolutely certain. Remember when everyone thought you had bird flu?"

"Good point ... but that was just stupid and I denied it. Squall isn't denying anything!"

"Of course, that's a sure sight of guilt. If he isn't running round the school proclaiming his innocence, he _must_ be guilty." said Rinoa sarcastically.

"Oh Rinoa. You're making it sound like I said he killed someone! You have a soft spot for him don't you?"

"What? I-" but Rinoa was cut off,

"Rinoa has a crush on Squall! Squall and Rinoa up a tree-" sang Selphie.

"Oh shut up and get us some drinks." said Rinoa irritably. Selphie grinned.

"Sure thing!" She got up and practically skipped over to the bar. Rinoa watched her progress, and couldn't help but laugh. She was served by the other guy at the bar, the one with long hair tied back in a ponytail.

Rinoa glanced over at Squall, only to meet his gaze head on. They had a silent staring contest for a couple of seconds, then he looked away first to serve a customer. A thought occurred to her,

_'He has very pretty eyes."_

Selphie skipped back over with two glasses filled with Amber liquid. She settled the paler one in front of Rinoa,

"Here's your apple juice." She then seated herself and took a long draught from her own frothy mug.

"Ah that's the good stuff. You don't know what you're missing Rinoa." Rinoa rolled her eyes.

"I'm not missing much, which reminds me, I expect petrol money. Your house is in the opposite direction to mine" Selphie ignored this comment. She had very good selective hearing.

"You get drunk stupidly easily Rinoa. It shouldn't take two beers to have you retching in the bathroom." said Selphie. Rinoa shrugged.

"Maybe I'm allergic."

"That would suck. You'd be like that exchange student who's allergic to chocolate, only with alcohol!" Rinoa laughed.

"Shut up. I think the band's starting to play."

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

As the last customers left Squall breathed a sigh of relief. All he had left to do was clean up then he was free to go. While he and Irvine busied themselves, their manager was chatting to the band, who were also packing up.

Squall glanced over to see Xu smiling in earnest. One of the band members handed over a signed copy of their CD to her. They'd been giving out free copies after their performance.

"So Squall ... you never told me what your girlfriend's name was?" said Irvine conversationally, Squall shrugged.

"Touchy subject huh?" said Irvine.

"That's none of your business." said Squall tonelessly.

"So, this girl. She seemed pretty pissed off. What'd you do?" Irvine waited a minute. Squall didn't answer. He sighed.

"You know what? You really need to get laid Squall. That should loosen you up a bit." Squall chucked and shook his head at this.

"You're 'loose' enough for the both of us."

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

_'Seventeen years and she's got a reputation, for adding to the burden of overpopulation-'_

The CD they're been given had quickly been put into Rinoa's stacker, and turned up to full blast as they drove home.

"They were pretty good weren't they?" said Selphie, raising her voice above the music.

_'There'll come a day, you wait and see, he'll step up and he'll just let her be, but she don't want a fuss, and she don't want a fight, she don't want him back but she knows she just might change her mind-'_

"Yeah they were really good. You know what Selphie? You should ask them if they'd play at the school festival."

_'Somewhere in the big old city, there's a girl and she looks so pretty, I wish that I could take her home tonight-"_

"That's a really good idea actually! I was thinking of putting a band together with kids from school, but so far everyone I've auditioned has sucked. A lot."

_"But she's lost her faith in modern men, she's bent on getting back at them, and everybody tells me that she bites-'_

"Heh, I know. I was there remember?"

"Oh, right. Too bad we can't just have you on the piano. That'd fix everything." Rinoa shrugged.

_'She bites...'_

Rinoa pulled over next to Selphie's house. Her house had a very distinguishing feature that set it apart and made it very easy to find - it was a bright lime green colour that could even be seen brightly in the dark. Selphie jumped out.

"Thanks Rinoa! We should have girls nights more often. Zell's a doll, but there are somethings that can't be said with male ears around. Even with one as unmanly as Zell." Rinoa laughed.

"Poor boy. By the time he settles down to get married he'll be such an obedient husband. We have him well trained." said Rinoa,

"Heh, so true. See you tomorrow Rinoa." said Selphie with a wave, then she was gone.

Rinoa drove back home carefully, humming along to the music. She passed the bar, and laughed out loud to herself when she realized that she had forgotten to collect her petrol money owed by Selphie.

She was passing through a business district when something peculiar happened. She rounded a particularly sharp corner, then accelerated. She had an impression of a pair of large amber eyes lying in the road, then she was slamming on the breaks.

It was futile. The car skidded sideways with a tremendous screeching sound, over the blank Amber eyes, and into the curb. Rinoa quickly turned off the car as it came to a halt. In a trance, she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

The lights were still on, flooding the road. _'Crap I've killed a cat or something ...' _thought Rinoa desperately willing herself to believe it.

Rinoa walked round the back of the car to assess the damage on the other side. It was mostly to avoid the front, to avoid looking at what she'd hit. The front tire was flat, probably from the impact of hitting the curb.

There was a movement in the corner of her eye. Rinoa span round.

"Who's there?" she called nervously into the darkness. Rinoa caught a flash of white, then whatever it was disappeared behind a building. Rinoa felt a strange prickling sensation in her stomach. Something wasn't right, and she was scared as hell. She turned back around, forcing herself to look at what she'd hit.

Rinoa saw a splattering of red across the road, illuminated by the light from the car. Then she saw a human hand.

"Oh crap ..."


	3. Chapter 3

Balamb was too tiny to merit it's own police force, so they shared with two other towns close by. It worked quite well, the police headquarters were located a point between the three, and to take care of small everyday things, a sherif was appointed, one for each township.

In Balamb, it was a man named Martine. If anything ever happened, he was the one to call, not the police. The police were a half hour drive to the edge of town, so things usually got done faster if you called Martine. Instead of telling children to call 111 when in danger, they were instructed to call Martine.

And that's exactly what Rinoa intended to do, after seeing if the person who owned the arm sticking out from under her car was alive. She hurriedly crouched down, and peered into the small gap.

She couldn't make out any distinguishing features in the dark, just a tangle of Limbs at awkward angles. She swallowed, and willed herself not to throw up, the smell of blood was over-powering.

Then she heard something, a tiny clicking noise. Rinoa got up slowly, her eyes darting backwards and forwards through the darkness, trying to pinpoint any kind of movement.

"Who's there?" she called. There was a loud bang. Rinoa acted on instinct, quick as lightening, ducking down into a ball, and covering her head with her arms. There was a tinkling shattering sound, then it rained glass on her head. There was another bang, and Rinoa felt a something whizz past her ear.

_'Someone is shooting at me!'_

She let out a yelp and scrambled behind the car, as two more shots were fired. Breathing hard, she pressed herself flat against the door, bending low so whoever it was couldn't see her through the shattered window.

_'Arr! My car!'_

There was another bang, and more broken glass, then the the clicking sound of an empty magazine.

_'Crap! Crap! Crap! What do I do?!" _thought Rinoa frantically. There was more clicking, the gun was being reloaded. Rinoa opened her car door, and flicked off her headlights. Everything plunged into darkness.

_'At least it won't be able to see me now...' _thought Rinoa. There was another bang. It didn't even hit her car.

_'I need to make a break for it ... but where can I run? I could drive ... but what if he shoots me before I can get the car started? And what about the body? If I just sit here he's bound to walk round eventually and finish me off ...' _thought Rinoa erratically. She had just decided that driving was the best option, when she heard another engine revving. A motorbike came around the corner, flooding the road with light.

Like a possum in headlights, she was rooted to the spot as the motorbike sped straight towards her.

The biker must have spotted her, because they managed to skid sideways to avoid her, just as another shot was fired.

The biker fell from their bike, the momentum keeping them rolling as the bike itself toppled over and sent sparks up as it skidded over the road. Both rider and bike came to a halt a few moments later.

The biker lay on their back, spread-eagled. They groaned, which Rinoa took as a good sign. Whoever it was, was still alive.

She scrambled over to them, fervently hoping she hadn't caused another death.

"Are you alright?" asked Rinoa anxiously, as the person attempted to sit up. She heard footsteps behind her, and the clicking sound of a gun.

She stood up, and span around. Just beyond her line of vision, stood a figure dressed in what looked like a white trench coat, shrouded by darkness. Rinoa couldn't catch any features of the person in the dark, but she could see the black gun in their hand. It stood out starkly against the white.

Rinoa watched with a horrible sense of impending doom as the figure raised it's arm, and pointed the gun straight where her heart would be. Everything went numb. A number of thoughts flitted across Rinoa's mind as she stared down the black barrel -

_'I'm going to die ... like this ... I wonder if it hurts ... Sorry Dad ... I'll see you soon Mum.'_

She looked away and waited for the mysterious figure to pull the trigger.

There was no loud bang, only a strange clicking noise, which Rinoa took to mean that the gun had ran out of bullets. The person seemed to get frustrated, and he tried to shoot her again. It didn't work. Rinoa let out the breath that she thought would be her last.

The figure took a step towards her, and it was then that Rinoa realized that the person didn't necessarily need a gun to kill her. Not when they could strangle her, or simply beat her to death. She took a step back, but was meet with what felt like a brick wall. She glanced behind herself and gasped. The biker was up.

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Squall liked riding his motorcycle. Especially at night when there was nobody around. The wind again his leather jacket, the road rushing past underneath him, were all sensations that he savored.

He mostly enjoyed the solitude. He was alone when riding, and he didn't over analyze things or think to much or too deeply like he usually did. He could almost melt into nothingness.

He entered the business district. It was called the business district because there were a couple of small office buildings located there. It was a deserted part of the town, a place people only went if they worked in one of the offices, or if they were passing through.

Around the buildings was lots of undeveloped land, just grassy plains, and the reserve which ran along the edge, like a spine.

He came to a sharp corner, turned, then found himself looking at the most bizarre scene imaginable. He had enough time to think,

"_What the- Rinoa!?"_ then he was slamming on the brakes, and skidding sideways. There was a loud bang, something searing hot grazed past his arm, overbalancing him sideways, then he was falling. He rolled with the momentum, then finally came to a stop.

He groaned. He was dizzy, and it felt as though he'd bruised every bone in his body. He attempted to sit up, but felt nausea rising in his throat. He let himself fall back.

"Are you alright?" asked Rinoa anxiously. Squall gazed up at her through his helmet.

He wondered dazedly why she'd been crouching behind a car in the middle of the road like that, where she had come come from, and why she had three heads.

There was a funny look on her face, a kind of blind panic, she was terrified. It struck Squall then how vulnerable she looked. He didn't like it. Someone was approaching, Squall could hear them.

Rinoa turned suddenly, and her whole body went rigid. Squall sat up slowly, as the nausea ebbed away, and the world slowed it's spinning. He shook his head experimentally, as if trying to rid it of water.

He focused on the approaching figure. They were holding a gun, and aiming at Rinoa.

Squall felt an inexplicable anger rise in him. The world stopped spinning abruptly, and Squall got to his feet. There was a curious clicking sound. The figure had tried to shoot, but evidently there was no ammo left.

They took a step forward, as Rinoa took a step backwards, straight into him. She gasped and span round, as he pulled off his helmet.

"Squall?!" She squeaked He stared straight at the figure, and pushed Rinoa behind him. He and the figure stared at each other for a few moments, then suddenly the figure fled, sprinting off into the night.

Rinoa and Squall stayed completely still for a moment, until the sound of footsteps faded. Squall turned to Rinoa, and broke the silence.

"What happe- oof!" but he was cut off as Rinoa let out a chocked sob, and flung herself at him. He was knocked back a few steps, as Rinoa threw her arms around him, and hugged him round the middle tightly.

To say he was startled was a gross under-statement.

Her shoulders were shaking - she was crying. Squall smelt a faint trace of strawberries in the air.

He felt all the adrenalin leave his body, and he went back to feeling exhausted, and battered. Then his shock subsided, and common sense returned.

"Rinoa, let go." he said quietly. She did as she was told, and stepped back. She was standing closer than he liked, but he decided to let it be under the circumstances. His vision blurred, and he took an unsteady step forward.

" ... What happened?" repeated Squall, blinking away the sudden lightheadedness that had taken over him.

"I ... I ran over someone then that psycho tried to kill me." said Rinoa steadily, but the way her hands shook, and the fact that tears were still gathering in the corners of her eyes gave her away. Suddenly she was peering into his face, clearly concerned.

"Are you alright Squall? You look a bit ... out of it ..."

_'Of course I look out of it. I fell off a motorbike.' _thought Squall

Rinoa gasped, and pointed at his arm.

"Squall you ... you got hit!" Squall gave her a bemused look, until he looked down for himself, and saw a tear in his jacket, just above his elbow.

"Call the police." he mumbled. He was really having trouble focusing now. Rinoa's face swan in and out of focus before him.

He stumbled slightly to the side, then found himself on the ground.

He felt a pressure on his shoulder.

"I need you to take off your jacket Squall." said Rinoa, then she was helping him shrug it off, and he was powerless to stop her.

"But why ..." he mumbled. She shrugged off her own light jersey, then grabbed his elbow. Squall flinched as a sharp searing pain ran up the length of arm. He looked down to see a nasty wound, a deep long welt at a diagonal slant along his upper arm. It was bleeding profusely.

_'So that's why I feel so ... lightheaded.' _thought Squall dully.

Rinoa draped his jacket across his shoulder.

"I'll be back in a second. I'm calling the sherif." said Rinoa, then she was gone.

Squall sat quietly, trying to form coherent thoughts. He heard Rinoa open her car door, then rifle around for something.

She dialed. The phone seemed to ring forever, then Squall heard it. A faint jingle. He got up unsteadily, and followed the sound. It lead him back to the car, then under it. There was a phone ringing, underneath Rinoa's car.

"Squall, you shouldn't be-"

"Rinoa it's under the car." interrupted Squall.

"What? What's under the car?" asked Rinoa. She took her cell phone away from her ear and listened.

Her phone sounded loud as it made contact with the ground, it sliced through the think silence of the night like a knife. Horrible realization drew over her features.

"Martine! He had amber eyes!"


	4. Chapter 4

It was a very chilly night Rinoa soon realized. She shivered in her singlet, nearly wishing she hadn't given up her jacket to Squall. She stole a glance at him, and immediately changed her mind.

He leaned heavily against her car, face very pale. A faint hint of red was starting to show through Rinoa's thin jacket - the bullet must have ruptured a vein or something ... Rinoa shivered at the thought of the bullet finding it's intended target.

Then there'd be three bodies lying on the road, rather than one.

They had been sitting in the cold light of Rinoa's car headlight for the past quarter of an hour, waiting for the police to show up. Hardly any words had passed between.

Rinoa had given an abridged version of what had happened before he arrived, then she called the police. They now sat opposite each other, Rinoa shivering and Squall brooding.

It was Rinoa who broke the silence.

"They should be here by now." Silence. She nearly thought he wasn't going to answer, then-

"How do you know the man under the car is the sheriff?" asked Squall.

"... Well, when I called him, his phone rang under the car. Also, before I hit him I saw amber eyes. Sheriff Martine has, I mean, had amber eyes." said Rinoa.

Squall was silent for a moment, looking down in contemplation.

"Why do you ask?" said Rinoa.

"... Amber isn't exactly an original colour. Anybody could have amber eyes ..." replied Squall thoughtfully.

"I suppose, but what about the phone ringing?" asked Rinoa. Squall shrugged.

"It's really strange .. you'd never expect this sort of thing to happen out here." said Rinoa. "I reckon that guy killed Martine. The only thing is, why did he try to kill us? He could have just left, and not risked us seeing him. And why leave the body in the middle of the road?"

"Maybe he wanted it to be found." said Squall quietly.

"That means he wouldn't have needed to try and kill us - I found it. It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe you interrupted him ... and the body wasn't supposed to be found yet."

"Maybe ..." said Rinoa, eyeing her car, and the arm sticking out. The wind started to pick up slightly, and Rinoa tried to stop her teeth from chattering.

"You cold?" said Squall quietly. Rinoa nodded, rubbing her arms up and down.

"A little." Squall was silent for a moment, then he sighed.

"Here." he chucked his jacket at her roughly.

"Huh? But Squall-"

"It's only fair. I am ruining yours." said Squall.

"... Thanks." said Rinoa, smiling and slipping on the black leather. White fur lined the collar, it was extremely warm, and carried with it a uniquely calming scent.

"I want it back later." said Squall sharply, eyeing her wearily.

"Yeah, Yeah. All in good time. ... Anyway-" said Rinoa, "-when are we doing our assignment?" Squall sighed.

"You want to discuss that now?"

"What else are we going to do? Sit silently in the dark ignoring each other?"

"Sounds like a good plan ..."

"Squall! Seriously!"

"Fine. If it makes you happy we'll organize this." stated Squall coldly.

"Finally! Sunday at the library?" Squall sighed.

"What time?"

"Eleven thirty?"

"Alright."

"See? That wasn't so painful was it?" Squall rolled his eyes.

"You have no idea."

"Why were you so against us meeting up for this thing anyway?"

"That's none of your business."

"I beg to differ. If your problem causes us to fail this module it is very much my business."

Squall gave her an unamused look.

"Do you just not like me or something?" asked Rinoa, taking on a more serious tone.

"What if that's the case?" said Squall.

"Then I'd be wondering what I ever inadvertently did to make you hate me." replied Rinoa crossing her arms over her chest. Squall sighed.

"Look, I have my reasons for not wanting to hang around you. It's just the way it should be."

"What do you mean the way it should be?"

_'I can't rely on anybody else.'_

"Never mind."

"But-" Squall was saved from further questioning by the arrival of the police. The sound of the siren and colour of the lights pierced the night, cutting through the darkness and silence.

Rinoa gave Squall a scrutinizing glare, before picking herself off the road, and walking towards the police car, which had slowed to a halt, and switched off its siren.

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

The police at the scene had taken Squall and Rinoa's details, then told them to wait in the car. Twenty minutes later, an ambulance and a tow truck showed up.

Squall's wound was tended for, and Rinoa was checked over as the police tried to selvage the body without ruining anything that may potentially be evidence. They seemed to have a hard time, the body was somehow caught up under the vehicle.

Eventually they managed to pull it out. Rinoa threw up in the bushes on the side of the road at the sight of it, and even Squall paled considerably.

If it was Martine, his face was a bloodied pulp, slashed up in every direction. His throat was cut as well, crimson congealing, and caking the front of his hardly recognizable navy blue uniform. More disturbing, his eyes lids were missing. The amber orbs stood out against the crimson that surrounded it. All his limbs stuck out at irregular angles, and one of his arms was roughly amputated just below the elbow. Presumably, the other half was stuck under the car still.

"Good god ... He must have been dead before that young lady hit him. Nobody gets that slashed from being run over." said on of the officers weakly.

"Poor Martine ..."

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

An hour later, after being throughly checked over, and driven away from the scene, Rinoa and Squall were seated side by side in a conference room at the police station. One wall was a single sided mirror, and the other three were concrete.

A wooden table took up most of the space, and across from the pair was a vacant seat.

The door on the far side was open, and two people were whispering heatedly about something. They fell silent. Apparently a consensus was reached, as a portly man walked in, closing the door behind him. He took the vacant seat.

"Hello, I am Constable Ward. I suppose you two know why you are here?"

"Yes." said Rinoa. Squall gave a curt nod.

"Good good. Your complete cooperation will be appreciated. I need you to tell me exactly what happened to the two of you tonight. Every last detail, no matter how irrelevant it may seem. Can you do that?" they nodded. "Oh, before we begin, do you two want to call your parents to tell them where you are?"

"My father's out of town." said Rinoa.

"My mother's probably asleep right now." said Squall.

"That's a no? Okay, we'll continue. You are ... Rinoa Heartilly?" said Ward, consulting a piece of paper in front of him, "And you are ... Squall Leonhart?" Ward sounded slightly surprised. He glanced at Squall briefly, who gave a curt nod.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Okay, Miss Heartilly, if you please."

"Well, I was driving home-"

(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)

Another hour later, they finally finished their count of what happened, Squall concluding the story with -

"I think he went in the direction of the reserve." Ward nodded.

"Thank you for your time and patience. If anything else occurs to you, don't hesitate to call. Just one question Squall, Is your father's name Laguna? Laguna Loire?"

Rinoa watched curiously as Squall stiffened visibly. He seemed taken aback.

"Yes. He was." said Squall. Ward's face broke into a sad smile.

"The last time I saw you, was about fifteen years ago. You were only a little boy." said Ward fondly. Squall's face remained an emotionless mask.

"I knew your father, he was a dear friend. We worked together before he ... well ... you know. How is your mother doing these days?"

"She's been better." said Squall. Ward gave Squall a knowing look.

"She seemed quite ill before the two of you moved away." Squall frowned, and looked away.

"Anyway, I've kept you two long enough. One of the other officer's will give you two lifts home. Your car, and your motorbike need to be inspected and checked, so I'm afraid, for the time being, they are confiscated. Don't worry, you'll get them back in a week or two. You two are free to go, outside the door is the officer who will be taking you home. Good bye."

"Bye." said Rinoa, yawning. Squall gave a nod, closing the door behind him as they left.


End file.
